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Thunderbird 2 & 4


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In need of a mojo booster, I picked this up from my local model shop this afternoon for a great price, the AIP 1/350th scale Thunderbird 2 with Thunderbird 4.  At 1/350 scale it's quite small and should, I hope give a reasonably quick build.  I do have an idea for a small diorama but we'll see how the build goes first.   I have no idea how accurate the kit is but this will be an out of the box build.

 

Box and sprue shots:

 

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There is a fairly comprehensive decal sheet although some will be painted instead...

 

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And a tiny Thunderbird 4...

 

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Construction starts tonight...

 

John

 

Edited by johndon
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An hours work cleaning some parts up and already there are hardly any parts left in the box...  Definitely a help with the mojo as I've done this much in about the same time it take to fit half a dozen pieces of PE to a 1/200 warship.  Added bonus is I've got a perfect excuse, if one were needed, to watch some Thunderbirds episodes 😀

 

Most of this is just held together for now, fit isn't too bad for the most part although the join between the cockpit and the rest of the fuselage is clearly going to take some work:

 

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The join that is probably going to pose most of the problems is on the pod:

 

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Not a problem if I was going to model the pod in flight configuration but I'm going to try and do a small diorama showing Thunderbird 4 launching...

 

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As mentioned, I have no idea how accurate the kit is but it looks enough like T2 for me...

 

John

 

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And on to Thunderbird 4 with some fettling still to do and a couple of parts not fitted until after painting:

 

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and TB2 on the deck of the USS Enterprise in the same scale, she's a BIG bird...

 

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John

 

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Zooming in, the shape doesn't look too shabby. I remember buying some of these kits back in the day (hate to think which day though). Hopefully your join line woes can be fixed with a dollop of filler and a quick sanding. Looks very good so far 🙂

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A bit of progress on TB 2 & 4.  Construction of 2 has stopped until I can get some more filler but I've given the engines their base colours, the kit would have you use decals for the engines but I'll be masking and painting the black and yellow stripes.  I've also started to paint TB4, couple of issues are that the masking tape didn't stick right down between the roof and side pod so the red stripe is almost completely covered in yellow but I reckon I can disguise this with weathering and the other issue which I only noticed after I'd removed the masking is that the red stripe shouldn't come down as far as the engine nacelle so that needs painting over.

 

Still, I'm pleased with progress so far...

 

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John

 

Edited by johndon
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I've started adding the decals to TB4 as shown in this rather cruel closeup.  The decals have just had a coat of MicroSol so aren't fully settled down yet and for some reason the paint appears to be very rough although it doesn't look like that at all to the naked eye...

 

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Painting of the main engines is also complete, a bit of touch up to do and they will, of course, be weathered later:

 

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John

 

Edited by johndon
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Thunderbird 4 is go...

 

Some cleanup round the cockpit window to do and I'm still disappointed with the rough paint finish which I can't really explain but, as mentioned, it is completely invisible to the naked eye or at least it is to mine!  There are 3 really bad sink marks on the front of the pod hence all the Mr Surfacer.

 

This is how I want to display the model, on a sea base with TB4 launching and TB2 hovering overhead once I figure out the best way to mount TB2...

 

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I'd though about adding a hint of interior detail to the pod but, the truth is, you can't really see much in there as it is pretty much all in shadow, especially once TB2 is overhead.

 

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John

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thunderbird 2 is now in primer.  As always, it has highlighted some seams that need a bit more work but, overall, I'm pleased so far, especially with the join between the fuselage and the nose which needed quite a bit of work.  I decided to sand down the raised panel lines and I'll represent the panels at the painting stage.  A bit more filling and sanding tomorrow but she might be green by the end of the week...

 

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John

 

Edited by johndon
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10 minutes ago, Arthur_Dent said:

Looks great, what green did you use for it? 

 

Thanks, it is Tamiya XF5 straight out of the bottle.  I will be doing some post shading and work with oils.

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Started work on the pod and the horizontal seam between the top and bottom halves which has highlighted an issue in that the top is at least .5mm longer than the bottom which means that, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to get the deep panel lines to line up.  Not looking forward to filling and re-scribing...

 

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I think there's no need to worry. The human eye is forgiving of curves, but less so of "bumpy" edges, I suggest. So if that awkward "groove": (1) ends up perfectly smooth along its length [I'm sure it will, as you seem to have constructed the other "grooves" on your model pod very evenly with little or no sign of a join], and (2) follows a gentle, almost imperceptible curve, it's unlikely that the slight curve inwards would be noticeable?

I have a theory that most people looking at a science fiction vehicle assume everything appears on that vehicle because of some logical reason (such as, they expect that's what things will look like when we reach the 21st century), whereas if it was an actual real-world AFV or truck, some of them (not just rivet counters) might query unusual panel lines or very wide shut lines as not being like the real thing.

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This version of TB2 is reasonably accurate shapewise, significantly better than the ones you get in the Imai boxing and far superior to the "Super Big TB2" from Aoshima. The nice thing abotu this kit is the cockpit internals which are ALMOST visible through the windows! Its a very old kit so the fit and joint issues are nothing unexpected.

 

Good job so far!

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6 hours ago, Kallisti said:

This version of TB2 is reasonably accurate shapewise, significantly better than the ones you get in the Imai boxing and far superior to the "Super Big TB2" from Aoshima. The nice thing abotu this kit is the cockpit internals which are ALMOST visible through the windows! Its a very old kit so the fit and joint issues are nothing unexpected.

 

Good job so far!

 

Thanks, I have painted the cockpit and used the instrument panel decals so we'll see what is visible although I didn't go so far as to add Gordon...

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A bit more progress on the pod.  For the worst of the misaligned panels (the one at the front on each side) I decided, after some thought, that the best course of action was to fill the line below the horizontal seam and then try to re-scribe it.  As a ship modeller, the need to rescribe panel lines is somewhat alien to me but here's my attempt (it's the panel line on the left) and I think I've just about got away with it.  A bit more fettling but it certainly looks no worse than any of the kit panel lines.  I've not taken it all the way round the bottom as, eventually, the pod will be in the water and the bottom completely hidden.

 

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Edited by johndon
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More work on the pod, with the panel lines re-scribed and it was time for some paint.  Because of the top and bottom of the pod being different lengths, there is a join line visible either side of the bottom of the door but I decided just to leave it instead of trying to fill and sand which would have been rather difficult, with the launch ramp down and some water effects later, it'll be difficult to see anyway.

 

Branching out from just ships means trying new techniques and I've never done pre-shading before so figured I'd give it a try.  Panel lines done with XF1, XF5 green over the top then a couple of drops of XF4 yellow green added and sprayed in the centre of the panels.

 

I think it looks OK for a first go although I do think that the panel line shading should probably have been a bit narrower but it is a vast improvement over plain green and I'll likely prime TB2 again and do something similar with that.  I'll still do some work with oils for a bit more variation.

 

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And with TB4 launching, weathering of the launch ramp and inner door still to be done...

 

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John

 

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TB 2 is getting her decals.  One thing I have found is that the Thunderbird 2 decals on the side are far too big and don't seem to match any of the photos that I have but with no alternative I've added them 'as is'.  Unfortunately, the previous coat of varnish 'frosted' in a couple of places but this should disappear under the next layer of weathering.

 

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I noticed that, with the pre-shade, the green had got a bit darker than I'd like so, on the pod, I've done a fairly heavy dot filter with white and green oils to lighten it in places and to add a bit variation to the surface.  I'm not 100% convinced but it looks OK from a foot or so away.  Not prototypical but, for interest, I added a couple of extra decals around the pod door.  I've also noticed from photos that both the pod and TB2 had some other markings so I may try and add a representation of them using some spare decals.  Next job will be some oil work to highlight the individual panels...

 

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John

 

 

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